St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1887-09-15
CONSPIRACIES OF CAPITAL AND
LABOR.
Sprinqfeld Republican.

CONSPIRACIES OF CAPITAL AND
LABOR.
Springfield Republican.
Two wOrkingmen were bound over
for trial under bonds of $1,000 each at
Brpckton the other day on charge of
cOrisplring to injure manufacturers
business. 1t was claimed that they
hung about the factory, persuading
other workmen to keep away, "breath
ing together" threats of violence if
they did not and otherwise combining
and adopting measures to harm the
prosperity of the manufacturer. SINH
lar cases have been before the Wor-
cester county courts recently, been de-
cided to be unlawful conspiracies and
punished accordingly. Like cOmbina
tions of workingmen at New York last
winter to boycott, it will be remember
ed, were also declared cOnspiracies
and the instigators were promptly pun
ished. The common law in regard to
such confederacies has been found suf
ficient in this state and in New York
to cope with the vicious principle of
the boycott in all it's forms and it has
been vigorously applied with the most
wholesome results. But beyond the
workingmen the application of the law
in this respect has not been carried to
any great extent.
And yet we are now being threaten
ed by cOnspiracies of capitalists as
palpably in violation of law as those
of any boycotters. Gigantic trusts
and pools are growing up, the former
beyond all legal restraint, the latter
without such restraint. They may not
in the long run be able to circumvent
the laws of competition. That does
not matter. 1t is enough to know that
they may for the time being. And
what are these trust and pOOls2 Sim
ply cOnspiracies, combinations, con-
federacies of two or more individuals
by concerted means to injure the pub
lie by creating extOrtiOnate mOnOpOlies
-misdemeanOrs at common law. They
are cOnspiracies to defraud the public
as the boycott is to injure an individu-
al. They involve the direct robbery
of the people. Under the forms of law
they destroy all freedom of trade and
tend to destroy all freedom whatso-
ever. But the trust does not act un-
der the forms of law; it goes beyond
the law. The pool system allowed
each manufacturer to conduct his own
business but under certain agree
ment as to the amount of the output
and the share each concern was emit
tied to of the whole industry and its
profits. The consumer was entirely at
the mercy of the pool as long as each
member lived up to the agreement.
But few of them did for long, and
smash went the pool, followed by an
other season of competitive rate cut
ting. 1t was a conspiracy to injure
the public but not always a formida-
BILE one.
The trust, however, takes the whole |
industry, whatever it lis, out of the
hands of the individual manufacturer.
1t creates board of trustees who not
only control absolutely the manufac- |
tured article but the factory plants as
well. A valuation is put upon these |
last and is represented by trust certifi-
Gates distributed to each manufacturer . |
Thus the control of his business passes |
out of his hands into those of the trus-
tees who in turn pass it over to a |
chairman of the board. This autocrat
fixes the price of the article made, the
amount to be made and the price of
the raw material of which it is made.
He places the consumer at his mercy |
and EFFORTS at will. The manufactur-
ers go their several ways and receive
returns from the business in the shape
of dividends on trust certificates. The
whole is a high handed conspiracy to
1efraud, to rob and impOverish the
public. 1t is a confederacy to injure
public trade and violate public justice.
1t is not even pursued under the forms
Of law. 1t is therefore a criminal and
ndictable Offense at common law and
punishable as such.
The same principle underlying the
action of the two wOrkingmen at
BrOckton underlies the creation of
trust or pool. The one sought to in
lure an employers business by depriv
ing him of laborers the other seeks
TO rob and injure the public by depriv
ng it of fair and just return for val
lie received. If one is indicted for
the other certainly should
De. The common law in this respect
las been kind to the wOrkingmen. 1t
lsed to forbid their combining to Sc
cure peaceably higher wages. Now it
recognizes that the laborer, alone and
lnaided, is so much weaker than the
employer that it permits him to coop
crate for certain lawful ends. But the
he moment such a combination en-
,lOys violence or threats, or a show of
and violence to secure
hose ends, it becomes an indictable
And the law has been
igorously applied of late in such cases.
t should be carried further and ap-
,lied without fear or favor. 1t should
make no exceptions for capitalists who
whether under or beyond the
orms of law, to control the home mar
let's and extort from consumers at will.
standard oil, cotton seed oil, rubber, 8
whisky and straw board trusts ought to
'e made to feel the law as we'll as the
york In omen of Rrnekfnn ,